Two other British teams – Pretenders CC and Village CC – played matches at the Marsa Sports Club cricket ground last weekend.

Both cricket teams have been here before.

In fact, this was Pretenders’ seventh tour to the islands since 2006 and Village CC had already played at the Marsa oval in 2009.

On Saturday, the tourists faced each other in a 35-over game which was won by Pretenders.

The next day it was agreed that a mini T20 tournament, involving the two visiting teams and Marsa CC, would be played.

In the opener, Marsa CC took on Village CC and the locals batted first.

A great innings from Nowell Khosla, 66 runs not out, kept the home team in the game. He scored four boundaries and two sixes along the way.

The home team totalled 140 runs. Pitcher was the main wicket-taker for the visitors with two.

In reply, Village CC succeeded in reaching their target at the 20th over with N. Troja top scoring after hitting 39 runs.

S. Harty added 25 runs and J. De Mellow 15.

Extras were worth 30 for Village CC and that’s what probably tilted the balance in their favour in the end.

Liam Azzopardi bowled well and felled three wickets as Haroon Majeed and Nowell Khosla took two each.

The two touring teams met again in the next game and, again, Pretenders stood tall.

Pretenders’ task

They now needed to beat the hosts to win the tournament.

Marsa batted first and posted a daunting total of 168 runs. Bikram Arora was at his awesome best for the host team as he smashed four boundaries and four sixes.

Extras was a concern for Pretenders as they gave away 34 points.

Marsa bowled well and reduced the visitors to 118 runs from their allotted overs.

Adam Sanders hit 36 runs and Byron Duncan 22. Anthony Dalton chipped in with 17 and Raj 15. For Marsa, Tony Azzo-pardi took three wickets and Joy Ghoseroy two.

Thus, the tournament ended in a three-way tie.

Next weekend, the national team will be engaged in a training camp in preparation for the upcoming international tournament in June.